Anti-pollution device

ABSTRACT

AN ANTI-POLLUTION DEVICE COMPRISING A PLATE MEMBER IS INSERTED BETWEEN A CARBURETOR AND THE INTAKE MANIFOLD. THE MEMBER HAS BORE WHICH IS SHAPED WITH A STRAIGHT SECTION, A CONVERGENT SECTION AND A DIVERGENT SECTION. SUPPLEMENTAL AIR IS PERMITTED TO ENTER THE DIVERGENT SECTION BY MEANS OF HOLE IN A PLENUM CHAMBER (SURROUNDING THE BORES) WHICH RECEIVE THE SUPPLEMENTAL AIR FROM CONDUITS.   A LARGER QUANTITY OF AIR IS AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLED BY A VALVE TO ENTER THE BORES THROUGH THE STRAIGHT SECTION DURING ENGINE DECELERATION.

Feb. 16, 1971 A. CVINQUE 3,564,580

ANTI-POLLUTION DEVICE Filed Dec. 29, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mvmm m ALPHONSE CINOUE ATTORNEY A. CINQUE ANTI-POLLUTION DEVICE Feb. 16, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 29, 1969 Fig.3

Fig.4

INVENTUR 4 "ALPH ONSE CINOUE ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,564,580 ANTI-POLLUTION DEVICE Alphonse Cinque, Lynbrook, N.Y., assignor to Dorado Research Corporation, Lynbrook, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 29, 1969, Ser. No. 888,792 Int. Cl. F02m 23/00 U.S. Cl. 123119 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An anti-pollution device comprising a plate member is inserted between a carburetor and the intake manifold. The member has a bore which is shaped with a straight section, a convergent section and a divergent section. Supplemental air is permitted to enter the divergent section by means of holes in a plenum chamber (surrounding the bores) which receive the supplemental air from conduits. A larger quantity of air is automatically controlled by a valve to enter the bores through the straight section during engine deceleration.

The invention relates to anti-pollution devices for internal combustion engines and more particularly to improved means for controlling the excess production of hydrocarbons in the fuel-air mixture of an internal combustion engine and more specifically to a plate member inserted between the carburetor and intake manifold of an internal combustion engine which is adapted to permit supplemental air to mix with the fuel-air mixture during all phases of engine operation.

It has been determined after many tests by innumerable governmental agencies, laboratories, and corporations that the primary cause of air pollution from automobiles is due to unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas. Much money and many hours of research have been devoted to the solution of this problem, and many devices claiming to reduce this type of pollution have been marketed. Thus, for example, a great deal of effort has been expended in the direction of eliminating hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas by recirculating a part of all of the exhaust gas, and other elforts have been made to reduce the quantity of hydrocarbons in the fuel-air mixture during engine deceleration by introducing atmospheric air into the intake manifold. Unfortunately, to date all of these attempts have been largely unsuccessful and automobiles continue to pollute the air.

In accordance with the present invention, the production of unmixed hydrocarbons in the fuel-air mixture is controlled by cyclonically mixing supplemental air with the fuel-air mixture leaving the carburetor. A plate member interposed between the carburetor and the intake manifold has a shaped bore concentrically aligned with the respective bores of the inlet to the intake manifold and that of the carburetor exit, and has a plurality of conduits connecting atmospheric air to the bore through a plenum chamber surrounding the bore. One of the conduits contains a vacuum valve which is slightly open when the engine is idling and is controlled so that it is wide open when the engine is decelerated. The remaining conduits permit air to enter the plenum chamber and then to cyclonically enter the bore through a multiplicity of holes during acceleration as well as deceleration, thereby keeping the fuel-air mixture in continuous cyclonic motion, which substantially decreases the unmixed hydrocarbon content of the mixture.

Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an internal combustion engine controlling device interposed between the carburetor and the intake 3,564,589 Patented Feb. 16, 1971 ice manifold for minimizing the production of hydrocarbons in the fuel-air mixture.

A further object of the invention is to provide an internal combustion engine controlling device which operates automatcally to admit supplemental air into the intake manifold in response to operating conditions of the engine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an internal combustion engine controlling device which admits supplemental air to the fuel-air mixture in a cyclonic motion to reduce the unmixed hydrocarbon content of the mixture.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an anti-pollutant device which is of simple construction, strong, durable, inexpensive to manufacture and install.

These and other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of an internal combustion engine showing particularly the carburetor and intake manifold with the improved controlling device interposed between the two;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the controlling device partly in section, taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an alternate embodiment of the controlling device partly in section.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawings herein like reference numerals designate like or corresponding parts throughout the figures thereof, there is shown in FIG. 1 portions of an internal combustion engine with which the improved anti-pollution device is associated, said portions including an intake manifold 10 and a carburetor 11 having a conventional butterfly valve 12. The anti-pollutant device designated generally by reference numeral 13 is adapted to be interposed between the carburetor 11 and the intake manifold 10. The device 13 includes a pair of flat plate members 14 and 15 which are clamped together with a gasket 9 and screws (not shown) via openings 8 (FIG. 2). The device 13 is secured between the carburetor flange 16 and the manifold flange 17 by bolts and nuts (not shown) or by any other well-known means. Conventional sealing means, such as a gasket 18, may be interposed between plate member 14 and flange 16 and between plate member 15 and flange 17, as shown in FIG. 1.

Members 14 and 15, as best illustrated in FIG. 2, have a pair of aligned bores 20 and 22, which are concentric with respective bore 11a and 10a (FIG. 1) in the carburetor and intake manifold respectively. A plurality of conduits or channels 24 and 26 conduct atmospheric air to the bores 20 and 22. A conduit 28 in the plate member 14 contains a vacuum valve 30 which is slightly open at idle and which is opened still further to permit a greater amount of supplemental air to enter the bores 20 and 22 via a chamber 29 when the engine is decelerated. The valve 30, as shown in FIG. 2, may be a conventional ball check valve comprised of a spring 32 which normally biases a ball 34 against valve seat 36. Thus, as the vacuum in bores 20 and 22 increases, the ball 34 is unseated to permit more air to enter chamber 29 through the valve inlet 30a. Air entering the chamber 29 in plate 13 flows into a straight section 33 of each bore 20 and 22 through a plurality of openings 35, 36, and 37, which, as shown in FIG. 1, are located on the carburetor wall against which the lower end of the butterfly valve 12 closes. It has been found through much experimentation that during deceleration the supplemental air is most effective in mixing with unmixed hydrocarbons in the fuel-air mixture when permitted to enter the plate member on this particular side of the carburetor.

The conduits 24 and 26 are adapted to conduct atmospheric air during all phases of engine operation to a plenum chamber 40 which surrounds the bores 20 and 22 in plate member 15. The bores 20 and 22 in plate are shaped and, as most clearly shown in FIG. 1, have a convergent section 42, a divergent or diffuser section 44 and a cylindrical section 46. A multiplicity of holes 48 around the periphery of the bore connect the plenum chamber with the bores 20, 22 at the diffuser section 44. In the preferred embodiment, the holes 48 are drilled at a compound angle, i.e. downwardly from the diffuser section 44 toward the cylindrical section 46 and nonradially with respect to the center of the bore, thereby causing air entering the bore to flow downwardly and counterclockwise (as viewed in bore in FIG. 2) in a cyclonic flow pattern and thus to mix any hydrocarbon particles falling from the walls of the carburetor with the fuel-air mixture flowing therefrom. It has been found desirable in a two-barrel combustion engine to have the cyclonic flow patterns operate in different angular directions. Thus, for example, the cyclonic flow in bore 22 is downward and clockwise whereas as hereinabove mentioned the flow in bore 20 is downward and counterclockwise. If desired, each of the holes 48 may be tapered inwardly from the plenum chamber 40 to the bores 20, 22. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the conduits 24 and 26, which provide the supplemental air to the plenum chamber 40, are preferably positioned opposite the conduit 28; that is to say, on the same side of the carburetor wall against which the upper end of the butterfly valve 12 closes.

Thus, during all phases of engine operation supplemental air continuously enters the plenum chamber 40 via conduits 24 and 26 of the plate member 15, due to the vacuum existing at the bores 20 and 22. The supplemental air entering through the holes 48 fiows in a cyclonic pattern, thereby thoroughly wiping the walls of any hydrocarbon particles and any unmixed hydrocarbon particles in the fuel-air mixture with the supplemental air to prevent pollution.

Upon deceleration, a greater amount of supplemental air is provided to the fuel-air mixture through chamber 29 by the increased opening of valve as hereinbefore described.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, there is shown an alternate embodiment of the present invention wherein the vacuum valve 30 is connected with conduit 52 in the plate member 15a to a chamber 53 which is similar to the chamber 29 of FIGS. 1 and 2. The conduit 52 and chamber 53 lie on a plane above the plane of conduits 24 and 26 and chamber 53 is connected to the bores 20 and 24 via channels (not shown) in the same manner as shown in FIG. 1. The bores 20 and 22 are shaped to have a straight section, convergent section and divergent section as sections 33, 42, and 44 respectively of FIG. 2, such that supplemental air from valve 30 exits to the bores in the straight section and air from conduits 24 and 26 exits to the bores in the divergent section. The plate 15a has a chamber 54 similar to chamber and it is similar in all other respects to plate 15. In this embodiment the plate 15a is placed directly between the intake manifold and the carburetor with appropriate sealing means (gaskets, 0 rings, etc.) since there is no need for plate member 14. It should be noted that at assembly, the plate 15a should be positioned so that the vacuum valve 30, as in FIG. 1, is located on the carburetor wall against which the lower end of the butterfly valve 12 closes for the reasons mentioned above.

Although not shown, holes may be provided in the plate members 14, 15, or 15a such that they may be bolted to the intake manifold and carburetor flanges. It is, of course, understood that the channels or conduits 4 24, 26, 28, and 52 must be of a particular size for a particular engine. Therefore, if desired, the conduits may be made large enough to operate larger engines and be fitted with various diameter orifices for smaller engines.

The valve 30, as previously discussed, may be a simp e, conventional ball check valve. However, this type of valve requires a finite time to open and thus the valve must be open when the engine is idling, otherwise the valve will not open wide enough to permit suflicient air to enter the bores during deceleration. Obviously, if a valve of more sophisticated design which had a rapid time for opening (i.e. a solenoid-controlled valve operated by the throttle position) no bleeding of supplemental air to the bores through the valve at idle position would be required.

Obviously, the foregoing disclosure relates to only preferred embodiments of the invention and that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the examples of the invention herein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:

1. In an internal combustion engine, anti-pollution device of the type wherein a plate means is interposed between a carburetor and an intake manifold through which a fuel-air mixture having unmixed hydrocarbons flows, said plate means having bores concentrically aligned with correpsonding bores in said carburetor and said intake manifold respectively, the improvement comprising,

a conduit means within said plate means for admitting supplemental air cyclonically to said bores during all phases of engine operation, said conduit means comprising,

a first conduit surrounding said bores,

a first channel means connecting said first conduit with supplemental air,

a multiplicity of holes between said bores and said first conduit, thereby providing an exit for supplemental air to said bores,

a second conduit located on a different vertical plane than the plane on which said first conduit lies,

a second channel means connecting one end of said second conduit to said bores for exiting a larger amount of supplemental air to said bores at engine deceleration than the amount of supplemental air exiting through said holes,

a valve means communicating with supplemental air at one end and having a second end connected to the second end of said second conduit, and

wherein each of said bores of said plate means comprises a plurality of vertical sections comprising a cylindrical section, a convergent section, and a divergent section, and wherein said second conduit exits to said bores in said cylindrical section and said first conduit exits to said bores in said divergent section whereby supplemental air enters said first channel means and is conducted through said multiplicity of holes to exit through said divergent section during all phases of engine operation, thereby causing the fuel-air mixture to flow in a cyclonic pattern and to thoroughly mix the unmixed hydrocarbons with air and whereby a large additional amount of supplemental air is provided through said valve means to exit through said cylindrical section when said engine is decelerated.

2. The anti-pollution device, as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said holes is angularly formed toward said intake manifold and non-radially.

3. The anti-pollution device, as recited in claim 1, wherein said carburetor has a conventional throttle valve and wherein said second channel means exits in said bores on the side in which the lower end of said throttle valve closes in said carburetor.

4. The anti-pollution device, as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said holes is tapered inwardly from said first conduit to said bores.

5. The anti-pollution device, as recited in claim '1, wherein said carburetor, said intake manifold and said plate means each have two bores and wherein said multiplicity of holes are angularly formed so that the cyclonic flow in one bore is opposite the cyclonic flow in the other bore.

6. The anti-polution device, as recited in claim 1, wherein, said plate means comprise first and second plate members, each having vertically aligned bores and respectively aligned with the corresponding bores in said carburetor and said intake manifold and wherein said first conduit is in said second plate member and said second conduit is in said firs-t plate member.

7. The anti-pollution device, as recited in claim 6, wherein said carburetor has a conventional throttle valve and wherein said second channel means exits in said bores on the side in which the lower end of said throttle valve closes in said carburetor.

8. The anti-pollution device, as recited in claim 6, wherein each of said holes is tapered inwardly from said first conduit to said bores.

9. The anti-pollution device, as recited in claim 6,

6 wherein said first and second conduit means are located substantially 180 apart.

10. The anti-pollution device, as recited by claim '6, wherein said carburetor, said intake manifold and said plate means each have two bores and wherein said multiplicity of holes are angularly formed so that the cyclonic flow in one bore is opposite the cyclonic flow in the other bore.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,118,865 11/1914 Johnson et a1. 123-119D 7 1,715,440 6/1929 Wagner 123119D 1,942,187 1/1934 Ruffino 123119D 2,789,796 4/1957 Mansfield 123-119D 3,039,449 6/1962 Mokrzycki 123--124 3,287,899 11/1966 Bintz 123119 3,414,242 12/1968 Bouteleux 261-18 3,500,806 3/1970 Sarto et a1. 12397(B)X FOREIGN PATENTS 495,321 11/1938 Great Britain 123124 WENDELL E. BURNS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

